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Far in California’s Sierra mountain range, massive ice formations are disappearing and expected to melt away entirely by the beginning of the coming hundred years, leaving summits without glaciers for the initial occasion in human history, recent studies has found.

Age-Old Beginnings of Sierra Nevada Ice Masses

The range's ice sheets are older than previously known, tracing back tens of thousands of years, with a few as old as the last ice age, according to an article published last week.

“Our reconstructed glacial history shows that a coming glacier-free Sierra Nevada is without precedent in human history since known peopling of the Americas around twenty thousand years ago,” the study states.

Worldwide Risk to Glaciers

Ice masses around the world are at risk during the climate crisis. A study published in the month of May of this year determined that nearly 40% of ice sheets are destined to melt because of global heating. If such heating rises by 2.7 degrees Celsius, which the world is presently on course for, as many as seventy-five percent will vanish, leading to sea level rise and mass displacement.

Throughout the Western United States, glaciers have shrunk substantially since they were initially recorded in the late 19th century, according to the report.

Focus on Major Ice Bodies

The recent study centers on several Sierra Nevada glaciers – the Palisade, Lyell, Maclure and Conness glaciers – that are among the biggest and likely oldest in the range. Their longevity during climate warming makes them “indicators” for examining ice loss in the west, the study notes.

Study Techniques and Results

Researchers looked at recently exposed base rock around the ice formations and took samples to ascertain how long the region was blanketed by ice. They found that the glaciers have covered swaths of the range for far longer than earlier believed – since prior to people occupied North America.

California’s glacial sheets attained their peak extents as long ago as thirty thousand years ago, the article’s authors stated, and one of the ice bodies experts looked at is believed to have grown seven thousand years ago, earlier than previously believed. The disappearance of ice formations, for the first time in human history, shows the dramatic effects of the climate change, a researcher of the study said.

Ecological and Symbolic Impact

“We’ll be the initial ones to see the ice-free peaks,” said Andrew Jones, the study’s lead author. “This has environmental ramifications for plants and animals. And it’s a symbolic loss. Global warming is very abstract, but these ice masses are tangible. They’re iconic features of the American West.”